An analysis of predictors of instruction work effort

Abstract

Various measures are presently utilized for the purposes of determining faculty teaching effort and assigning teaching loads. This study investigates how well the predictor variables of credit hours, student credit hours, contact hours, and student contact hours correlate with faculty self-report measures of time-use for each class taught. Additionally, the question of differences among measures of faculty work effort per class when faculty are classified by academic rank was investigated. The findings of this study indicate that of the commonly used measures of total faculty effort for a class only contact hours are a reliable measure, and neither the level of instruction nor the academic rank of the teacher have much to do with the faculty member's effort as measured in time for a class.